Bill & Kate Isles at OCC Coffeehouse, Saturday, April 27

BILL & KATE ISLES

at OCC Coffeehouse

Saturday, April 27, 7:30 PM

Bill and Kate are an acoustic singer/songwriter duo based in Duluth, Minnesota. Using a wide variety of musical styles, their performances carry audiences through a broad landscape of experiences from metaphorical worlds to small town family stories and to zany comedy. Consummate performers, they are known for their catchy melodies and memorable songs. They have a deep-seated love for the audience, and each other, and it shines before, during, and after the performance. 

BILL & KATE ISLES

They tour nationally, presenting their profound songs for audiences large and small, from house concerts to festival stages and everything in between. Words like 'Mesmerizing, 'Transcendent', and even, 'Hysterical' are common descriptions from audience reviews and audiences members feel that they are listening to stories of their own lives, told by two of their best friends.

Bill Isles (Born and raised in Duluth, MN) performed his first show of original songs, after a twenty-five year hiatus, in February of 2000. Since that time, he has become one of the most well known singer/songwriters in the Minnesota acoustic scene and has been getting national and international attention. 

Bill's love of life has strong roots in his childhood, but his urgency to tell these stories comes from an experience in 1993 when, with just enough warning to drive himself to the hospital, he experienced a Sudden Cardiac Arrest. He arrived with just ten minutes to spare. After being defibrillated, and before the doctors had time to detect and open a blocked artery in his heart, he made a commitment to himself that, if he survived, he would begin to write again. Those paddles restarted more than just his heart.

Kate Isles (Born in Tecumseh, NE, raised in Rochester, MN) came to the CD release concert for Bill's first CD, "Weightless" after hearing a public radio interview. She bought the CD and signed up on his e-mail list. ('Grounds for marriage!' quips Bill). Their song, 'Public Radio (A True Story)' is a delightful duet that chronicles these beginnings.

Tickets for the concert are $15 in advance and $20 at the door, available at the church office, 508-384-3110, or at www.musicatocc.org. The event will be in Fellowship Hall at the back of the church with entry from the parking lot behind the church. Parking is available behind the church and in the lot across the street. For more information and to be added to the mailing list, visit the website or contact Ken Graves, 508-384-8084, occmusic99@gmail.com.

OCC Coffeehouse is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Original Congregational Church in Wrentham. Doors open 30 minutes before the concert. Please call 508-384-8084, email occmusic99@gmail.com, or visit http://www.musicatocc.org for more information.

Party for the Pantry - May 4 - Tickets on Sale

"Thank you to all of our sponsors for the 4th Annual Party For The Pantry - Franklin Food Pantry Benefit! It's coming up fast. Get your tickets now! 

We are looking for raffle items to help get us to our goal of $10,001. Both small and large items are needed. We have a regular raffle and then a super raffle for higher end items. 

In the past people have donated sports tickets, vacations, autographs and memorabilia. 

Can you help?"

Get your tickets online at
https://partyforthepantry4.brownpapertickets.com/

Follow the Party for the Pantry on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/events/650075272118938/

Party for the Pantry - May 4 - Tickets on Sale

FHS baseball tops Catholic Memorial 12-1

Via HockomockSports, we share the results of the FHS sports action on Tuesday, Apr 16, 2019


Baseball = Franklin, 12 @ Catholic Memorial, 1 – Final
– Franklin’s offense plated six runs in the top of the fifth inning, turning a 6-1 lead into a 12-1 win on the road at Catholic Memorial. Senior Scott Elliott blasted a three-run home run to pace the offense while senior Alex Haba went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. Joe Lizotte (three RBI, run), Shane O’Neil (run, RBI), JB Floris (double, two runs, two RBI), and Jack Nally (run, RBI) each had a pair of hits for the Panthers. Junior Brennan Rivera tossed a complete game, allowing just one unearned run on two hits and two walks while striking out six to get the win.


For other results around the Hockomock League
https://hockomocksports.com/tuesdays-schedule-scoreboard-04-16-19/

FHS Panthers

Library of Congress: Celebrating 200 Years of Walt Whitman

Celebrating 200 Years of Walt Whitman The Library of Congress will celebrate the 200th anniversary of American poet and changemaker Walt Whitman's birthday in spring 2019 with a series of exhibits, public programs and a digital crowdsourcing campaign to showcase the Library's unparalleled collections of Whitman's writings and artifacts. Click here for more information https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-19-041/celebrating-200-years-of-walt-whitman-with-series-of-exhibits-events-and-digital-crowdsourcing-to-showcase-collections/2019-04-16/. Walt Whitman in his younger years, as shown in this 1854 engraving by Samuel Hollyer used in the 1855 first edition of "Leaves of Grass." Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

In the News: 2019 DPW Road Construction Projects

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"The town has released an interactive online map of construction projects scheduled for 2019. 

The projects include waterline replacements, road resurfacing, drainage improvements, and many other improvements."

You can read the street listing as published by MDN
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190416/franklin-maps-out-2019-road-construction-plans


Or view the interactive map of the DPW's updated project list for the current (2019) road construction season.

"Please keep in mind that although the work identified is anticipated to occur in the time frame of the 2019 construction season, it is always subject to change as certain projects may be delayed and other may be added to the list."





Or go directly to the Town page
https://townoffranklin.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=dd40cc6768364be392f6d0ff42156fa2

Franklin Residents: 2019 DPW Road Construction Projects

25 Franklin Residents officially completed the 2019 Boston Marathon

On Monday, I posted that there were 27 Franklin residents scheduled to start the Boston Marathon. 16 men and 11 women with the following distribution by age group.

Age Group	M	W	T
20's	4	3	7
30's	3	3	6
40's	7	1	8
50's	2	3	5
60's	0	1	1
	16	11	27

After the race I can share that 25 Franklin residents completed the full course per the official results.

Age Group	M	W	T
20's	4	2	6
30's	3	3	6
40's	7	1	8
50's	2	3	5
60's	0	0	0
	16	9	25

25 Franklin Residents officially completed the 2019 Boston Marathon

For more info about the runners and the race visit BAA.org/ or go directly to

https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon

27 Franklin residents scheduled to start the Boston Marathon

Disclosure: I am proud to be working for John Hancock, one of the major sponsors of the Boston Marathon.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephensherlock/

Note: due to the data available from the results, I don't know if the 2 'missing' runners did not start the race, or started and did not complete the race.

FY 2020 Budget Preparations: Town Administration Memo

From Town Administrator Jeff Nutting and Jamie Hellen to Town Council, School Committee, and Finance Committee

"As you know, the Town Council meeting on March 13th will be to discuss the fiscal challenges the Town faces for FY20 and beyond. The School Committee is scheduled to vote on a proposed school budget on March 12th. The Finance Committee will be beginning their FY20 budget review on March 18th.

Summary In a Nutshell

At this point in time, with final revenues still unknown, a " level service" municipal and school budget would require about an additional $2,000,000 in revenue . "Level Service" budget is to provide the same level of services that are currently being provided this year.

The FY19 School budget funded by the town is $63,235,000 . The Superintendents FY 20 "level service" budget is $65,921,000 or an increase of $2,686,000 and the Superintendents revised recommended budget FY20 is $66,826,115 or an increase of $3,591,000. (See the attached memo's from the Superintendent .)

We are currently recommending an increase in the School budget of $1,200,000 for the coming Fiscal Year 2020, staring on July 1st. Unfortunately, this means the school "level service" budget will be short by about approximately $1,500,000 and the Superintendent's recommended budget by $2,640,000.

It is important to note these numbers are still in flux due to final state budget numbers, charter school enrollment and health insurance figures.

Charter School Impacts

We do not have a clear revenue number yet due to the expansion of the charter school. They are projecting an increase of 258 students overall, from the current capacity of 450 to a maximum of 708 in FY20 and eventually phasing into a maximum capacity of 900 in future years. The Charter School will also be expanding eventually to K-12 from its current K-8 grades.

As of this letter, 212 Franklin students have applied from a pool of over 600 applications. A lottery will be held and the actual r;iumber will be known later in March . This will lead to an amended proposed state aid number that will be include in the House of Representatives budget, which generally is made public in mid-April.

Our current guess is that Charter School will divert about $1,000,000 from our state aid. Since the final number is determined by a lottery, this estimate could go up or down based on the lottery and how many students who were accepted through the lottery and accept a seat.. The funds for the Charter school are deducted from our Chapter 70 School aid amount . In total, the Town stands to lose local aid for education from the state budget this year, relative to this year.

The charter school funding issue has been a problem for years and the legislature has not yet properly addressed the issue. The bottom line is that the School budget will be less than what is needed to provide a level service budget, let alone the overall vision for the school district as outlined by the Superintendent and the School Committee. We have written to our legislative delegation for years regarding changing the state formula to be less punitive to public school districts, but the law has not changed in 26 years.

We will adjust our recommended school budget based on the House budget in April. The final state aid is not usually known until July and further adjustments can be made by the Council once the information is known.

The current revenue projections for future years do not provide the funds necessary to support municipal and school operations at its current level.

Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21)

An override will need to be considered for FY 21 to properly fund school and municipal services. There are currently a lot of moving parts, including but not limited to, the final FY20 state aid amount, future changes to the education funding formula (if any), continued growth in Franklin's population, aging population, school enrollment, increased demand on public services, just to name a few.

The bottom line is that virtually every department in town is seeing increased costs to do business and a substantial increase in demand for services. Every department has seen an uptick in requests for services from record breaking public safety calls to more demands on the DPW to maintain our property, fields and roads, higher facilities costs, more customers at the Senior Center and Library, let alone recruiting and retaining the best staff.

The amount of an override is ot known at this time, but something in the $4 -$5 million dollar range may be needed to maintain appropriate school/municipal services next year. Again these figures will change once more information is available and the Council and School Committee can discuss the matter this fall.

We are happy to answer any questions and hope this meeting in March will begin a community wide discussion.

The Town has a website with all finance & budget related materials to stay in touch with the latest information: https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget"

Continue reading the memo
https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/franklinma/files/uploads/fy20_budget_forecast_and_beyond.pdf

The working draft of the budget for the Finance Committee discussions
https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget/files/proposed-fy20-operating-budget

The audio recording of the March 18 Finance Committee is available
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/03/fm-160-fincom-budget-hearing-1-fy-2020.html

My notes from the March 18 meeting recorded live at the meeting
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/03/live-reporting-finance-committee-march.html

The Franklin budget cycle is shown here

Franklin budget cycle

For more info on the Franklin budget cycle 
https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget